with Mike Santoli, Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance, Veteran Financial Journalist
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While an integral part of Europe, Switzerland prizes its independence and abstained from joining the European Union. Instead, it pegged its currency at 1.20 Swiss Francs to the Euro, without adopting the Euro as its currency. But, on January 15, 2015 – overnight and without warning – the Swiss Central Bank abandoned its three-year old peg and decided to let market forces control the strength of its currency – and the Swiss Franc soared in value against the Euro and the US Dollar.
Now, while the Franc’s strength is great for the Switzerland’s balance sheet, it does make Swiss exports a lot more expensive. And while Americans are unlikely to suffer significantly from this move, countries in Europe – specially debtor countries whose borrowings are pegged to the Swiss Franc – will be hugely impacted. Tune in to find out why, and get Mike’s take on where US markets are headed in 2015.
